Bourbon is huge in this and it is heavy, heavy HEAVY. Very sweet, very syrupy, very boozey. Hard for me to work through even a small pour. Tons of flavor and a rich smell full of dark fruit, bourbon, maple, malt, vanilla and brown sugar. Just too sweet and syrupy for me.

Smell: Nice brown sugar notes upfront that is backed up nicely by some bourbon and maple syrup

Taste: Maple syrup upfront with hints of oak and vanilla. Bourbon follows that and is faint but nice and on the back end you get quite a bit of alcohol which ruins the flavor.

Overall: Medium body with low carbonation and a bit of alcohol sting

Overall: I think the barrel aging actually made this beer less drinkable than the regular. The alcohol is overly present and very off putting. Glad I got to try this beer but I won't be doing that again unless it has some serious bottle age on it

So this one is a herbed/spiced beer and the regular version is a BSDA?

Appearance: Thankfully, this one is actually carbonated. Nice autumn-colored beer.

Smell: Overtly boozy. Dominates the rest. Would have guessed pumpkin ale, but I guess it is yams. I think it is more the cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg that give it the pumpkin pie feeling. Bit of molasses, maple syrup, and vanilla as well.

Taste: Again the booze, not bourbon, dominates. Similar to the smell, tastes near pumpkin-ale with lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. Bit of toffee. Definitely some maple syrup, vanilla, and molasses. A bit sweet. Would love to see what actually goes into this one. Perhaps more sweet potato than the regular version.

4.0 S: Interesting. The bourbon in this smells more like rum. Perhaps it's the spices mixed with the bourbon booze that give this impression. In any case, this has a huge maple syrup presence, even more than CBS. Yams and toastiness next. Loads of spices, but they don't stand out too well individually. Rather, they meld to form one generic pumpkin spice blend. The bourbon adds a leathery earthiness and booziness. This smells good, but I think I like the non-barrel aged version better.

3.5 T: Very surprised here. This seems to be a lot less sweet that the normal version. Usually this would make me quite happy when dealing with Bruery beers, but I loved AM just the way it is. Anyway, the bourbon comes off like a rum again from the spice blend. Lots of yams in the taste. Toastiness and some nuttiness. Maple is less apparent in the taste. Again, tasty, but not nearly as good as the regular.

3.5 M: Heavier medium to ligher heavy body. Good moderate carbonation. Lightly creamy. Some amylase coagulation going on in the back of my tongue.

3.5 D: Tasty, but I expected the bourbon to add a nice touch to the base. Instead, it seems that it weakened it.

I busted this one out to share with a friend of mine. He bought me my first Autumn Maple so I decided he would be the perfect person to share it with.

A - Pours murky dark brown with a one and a half finger tall white head, dissipating down to nothing at all, leaving no lace what so ever down the glass.

S - Smells of rich brown sugar, yams, vanilla, warm bourbon, cinnamon, and caramel. The nose gets better as it warms up but it isn't very well balanced and never really wowed me.

T - Starts off with a good amount of yam flavor but that quickly fades into the shadows as the warm bourbon and sticky sweet brown sugar take over. Hints of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and other "Thanksgiving Spices" help round things out but this one is really all about the main flavors it seems.

M - Medium body and flavor with moderate carbonation. Sweet, sticky, feel with some warm booze that lingers on the pallet long after consumption.

O - I knew going into this one that I may not enjoy it but I was pleasantly surprised. The BA worked pretty well with the base beer and it never really overpowered the base flavors. I still have one more of these, can't wait to see what a year or so does to it.

Bottle. Thanks to mothman for opening this one. Poured into a DFH tulip glass an opaque murky copper orange colour with a slight tan whispy head. The aroma is sour funky with notes of lemon, caramel, and spice. Medium mouthfeel. This is an odd beer. It reminds me somewhat of Alpine Ichabod, the sour pumpkin beer. Starts sweet with caramel, spice, and the spice, very much like the nose. Ends with lingering sourness and vanilla/caramel notes. As this warms, I actually don’t mind this beer. It's different but drinkable and to be honest I think I probably like it more than my ratings would suggest.

Sampled March 2012A steady pour into my Lost Abbey Teku glass produces an almost two-finger thick, pale brown, or amber tinged, dark tan colored head. The beer is a concentrated amber / brown color that shows an almost brilliantly clear, bright cranberry-juice red hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells of caramelized / toasted malt, cooked brown sugar, toasted coconut, tart / warm Bourbon notes, and some spicy, almost green woody aromatics. There is an earthy quality to this beer that seems contributed from the toasted malt, the toasted oak, the hint of spices and perhaps even from the yams. The spices are very subtle, much more so than in the base beer or the Brett version, but do get noticed deep in the finish; they contribute aromatic notes of nutmeg, some woody ginger notes, and perhaps something a bit like allspice.

The beer has a sweetness to it up front, but this is well balanced by a Bourbon / barrel influenced tartness, lots of tannic, woody oak, a solid, general spiciness and even some carbonic bite. There is a woodiness in the finish that seems contributed by the Maple Syrup, as well as the oak barrel; it has a spiciness to it, and almost a touch of wintergreen character to it (though this last is quite subtle and merely a suggestion). There is nice toasted character to this beer that seems mostly malt contributed, but is also influenced by the oak, and it provides a touch of a bite that is a paler version of the bite that something more roasted would have. There isn’t a whole lot of sweetness to this beer and this makes the toasted coconut notes a touch softer, and there is also a noticeable vanillin note, but they still play a prominent role in this beer. The body is pretty light for a beer of this strength, having said that though, this is certainly a sipping beer; not just from the warming alcohol, as this does have some sticky, viscous character to it. There is a spiciness in the finish, that is almost more woody than spicy, but I am sure is contributed by actual spices (perhaps nutmeg and allspice). As the beer warms up a nice nuttiness starts to come out that seems to suggest a slight oxidation picked up during its barrel rest.

Not bad, I do like that the Bourbon character plays a supporting role here; it does play a big role, but the base beer clearly comes through and doesn’t get drowned out by the barrel treatment. Having said that, I definitely enjoyed the Brett version more, though I haven’t had the regular version since that flat, first release, but suspect that I would like a properly carbonated version of that beer more than this version as well. Still, this is easily an enjoyable beer and is nice to sip away an evening with.

T: Taste is a little more spiced than I remember the standard Autumn maple being, but it has been a year since I have had one. There is a strong boozy taste from the bourbon barrel aging which I think is a positive but the body and mouthfeel seems to have been watered down as a result. There is more cinnamon and clove spicing also mixing in with the vanilla and bourbon flavors when compared from a year or two back with the non bourbon version.

M: Mouthfeel is light for a 10% beer and there is a light carbonation from the barrel aging.